Switching to Natural Gas

In recent weeks, I have been seriously contemplating a conversion of my truck and my big mower to natural gas. In my first season back in the lawn business, I now fully understand how my profit margins are affected by the fluctuation in gas prices and started looking for alternatives.

Natural gas seems to be a viable solution.

Pros: About half the price if you are buying gas @ $3.30 and the price doesn't fluctuate as much as gasoline. I can still keep my existing gas tank and use it if I cannot reach a station near to me. Natural gas runs keeps engines cleaner increasing the longevity and bypassing certain fuel problems that can occur. 100% of my money will stay in our national economy. I can also receive a nice, hefty tax credit for switching. I could also use this as an advertising ploy to possibly increase sales for the greenies. From the information that I have picked up, it's just as safe as using gasoline.

Cons: $3500 to convert my V-8, and about $800 for a 27hp Kawasaki. There are only three gas stations in the Indy area that I could fill up. There is also an inevitable learning curve by switching and some unknown problems that might arise.

What do you guys think? Am I in over my head? Can you think of something that I haven't?

I've started the conversion. I have a couple CNG stations 20 mimutes away heading towards each of my service areas, thankfully one is within minutes of a supply house I go to every few days during the season. Look into tax credits for doing the conversion. If you have NG at your house/shop then you can also get a compressor to fill right on site. You can get these installed at a pretty reasonable price after tax credits, check with city, state, fed. The only problem with these small compressors are that they take hours to fill the tank.

Why do people not respect us as they do other tradesmen? Because every Tom, Dick, and Harry doesn't think he can be a plumber or electrician!

Yeah, it was my understanding that the gas stations all have rapid fill and the "garage" version is a slow fill. I don't have that option to fill at home because we just have electric. The average size tank can run 250 miles, so I would just have to fill up weekly.

Are you planning on doing the conversion yourself? I am somewhat mechanically inclined, but I know I would run into problems, and in the end, there is a good chance something would be installed incorrectly. However, I would have a lot more knowledge of the inner workings of the technology if I did it myself.

I'm in the same boat with no NG available at my shop or house so I have to use the fill stations. That sight is better than many others i have seen. They atleast tell you if the ftation is open to the public or not. It would be nice here if the state would set up a system where the public could use their stations to, it would double the amount of locations available

Why do people not respect us as they do other tradesmen? Because every Tom, Dick, and Harry doesn't think he can be a plumber or electrician!

My wife works for the gas company in our town and her boss asked me if I would switch truck and mowers over if he could get everything. I told him it sounded great, so looks like I will be switching when we get something in our area.